Thomas "Tommy" Dolliver Church was born in Boston but
lived in Ojai until he was a teenager and then moved to
Berkeley. He is credited with being the creator of the
"modern garden." He was educated at the University of
California, Berkeley and Harvard. Following graduation in
1922, he traveled extensively in Europe on a Sheldon
Travelling Fellowship. Upon his return to the United States,
he began teaching landscape architecture at the University of
California, Berkeley. He returned to practice in 1929 and
three years later opened his own office in San Francisco at
402 Jackson Street where he practiced until his retirement in
1977. During the 1930s, Churchâ€™s wife
Betsy worked for "Cargoes" a gift shop that sold furniture.
She talked the manager into allowing Tommy to show his
drawings there and when the Aaltos--who were good friends of
the Churches--wanted to sell their furniture in the US, Betsy
was also allowed to show it in the space.

Church's design approach combined with the local natural
environment and economic climate of the 1930s through the
1970s to lead to the development of what became known as the
California style. Church designed gardens primarily for the
expanding middle class, both in cities and in the rapidly
developing suburbs of the Bay Area. In addition to the
residential gardens that make up the majority of his work,
Church designed larger scale open space for housing,
industrial plants and hospitals, and was consultant to
Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley and
Santa Cruz. Church's designs were much publicized by a number
of popular home and garden journals, primarily Sunset
magazine. His philosophy and principles of design were
spelled out in two books, Gardens Are For People (1955,
reprinted in 1983) and Your Private World (1969).

Among Church's most important works were the Dewey Donnell
garden, El Novillero, in Sonoma, California (1948), done with
Lawrence Halprin, who was then working in his office; the
beach garden of Mr. and Mrs. O. Martin, Aptos, California
(1948); the General Motors Technical Center in Warren,
Michigan (1956); portions of the campuses of Stanford
University and the University of California at Berkeley and
Santa Cruz; and Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania.

During the course of his practice, Church collaborated
with numerous architects including William Wurster and
Gardner Dailey. He also influenced many young landscape
architects. Garrett Eckbo, Robert Royston and Lawrence
Halprin all worked in Church's office during the early stages
of their careers. His awards include the Gold Medal of the
American Society of Landscape Architects and the Fine Arts
Medal of the American Institute of Architects.

Sources:
Mann, William A. "Landscape Architecture: An
Illustrated History in Timelines, Site Plans, and Biography."
John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. 1993.

The Thomas D. Church collection documents over two hundred
of Church's projects through textual records, drawings and
photographs. The collection is arranged in four series:
Office Records, Project Records, Display Boards, and
Additional Donations. The office records include
correspondence relating to prospective (uncompleted)
projects, subject files that contain photographs and
clippings of landscape details and structures, public
relations files and exhibit boards. The public relations
files include correspondence regarding the publication of
Church's work and photographs of Church projects. The exhibit
boards also feature photographs, as well as drawings.
Additional photographs are located with the project
files.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of project
records. Arranged alphabetically, they consist of
correspondence, plant lists, reports, clippings, photographs
and drawings. Many project files include pre-construction
site photographs. Records of Church's major projects form a
large part of the series, including the General Motors
Technical Center (Warren, Michigan, 1956), numerous sites for
the Caterpillar Company (Illinois, 1958-62), Longwood Gardens
(Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, 1971-75), Stanford University
(Palo Alto, 1949-76), and University of California, Santa
Cruz (1962-75). The Dewey Donnell garden, his most acclaimed
project, is also documented.

The third series consists of multimedia display boards
from the retail store Cargoes, illustrating projects Church
collaborated on with William Wurster and Gardner Dailey. The
bulk of the collection was transferred from Church's office
in 1998, and their original order has been maintained.
Blueprints and photographs donated separately are included in
the final series.

The Project Index list is arranged alphabetically by
Project/Client Name and contains information, where
available, about the location, date, project type, architect,
collaborators, photographers, and formats for each project in
the collection.

Series Description

Contains a few sketches and correspondence between
Church and prospective clients.

B. Public Relations

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged by record type,
alphabetically within.

Correspondence, photographs, and a small number of
clippings related to the publication of Church's work,
articles by Church, and articles about him.

C. Photographic Subject Files

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.

Consists primarily of photographs, with clippings
and printed material also included. Images of landscape
structures and details predominate.

D. Photographs

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.

Photographs of completed projects as well as
portraits and photographic studies taken during foreign
travel.

E. Exhibit Boards

Scope and Content Note

Mounted photographs and drawings of projects created
for exhibitions and presentations.

F. Carolyn Caddes Files

Scope and Content Note

Photographs and correspondence files created by
photographer Carolyn Caddes. The photographs include
portraits of Church, photographs of his office, and
some images of his completed projects.

Boxes 12-109, Tubes

II. Project Record,
1933-1977

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by
client.

Contains correspondence, drawings, photographs,
clippings and drawings. The majority of drawings are
interfiled with the textual records. Over two hundred
projects are included. Though the bulk of the records
relate to residential commissions, Church's corporate and
institutional projects are well-documented. These include
the Caterpillar Company, Longwood Gardens, Stanford
University, and University of California, Santa Cruz.
Researchers should note that additional photographs are
located in the first series, Office Records. Additional
photographs and drawings can be found in the final
series.